Epilogue
Pre-Chapter Author's Note: The final chapter in this Blazblue fanfiction has finally arrived. The story of Ashes to Ashes is finally coming to a close. This chapter mostly involves Jacky tying up loose ends with multiple characters.
After Izanami had left, Kokonoe entered the room, staring down at Jacky. "So you were listening in, Kokonoe?" He knew the answer, though. "Yeah, I was listening." He smiled and pressed his head against his pillow. "Hey, Kokonoe, I've got a favor to ask of you." She looked down at him with curiosity. "I have something that I must do, but the end result will bring heartache. I need you to promise me that you won't mention me or Violet or Scarlet to Ragna or anyone else." Her eyes widened as she slowly began to understand. "Are you planning to wipe their memories of you away?"
"Well, it's more like they'll be bound and sealed away. They won't remember me one bit, but they will one day. And even if they don't recall my face, their hearts will probably acknowledge even still. Terumi wants the Drakos back. I won't give it to him, though. If he wants it, he'll have to pry it from my cold dead fingers!" Kokonoe groaned and muttered, "Whatever, it's not like you're worth mentioning anyways." He laughed, "Thank you, Kokonoe." Jacky climbed out of bed and walked over to Ragna's bedside. The white haired rebel was still asleep as Jacky called upon the Drakos and gently placed the very tip of the blade against his forehead.
By the power of the Extinction: Drakos, you shall think of me as naught but a figment of one's imagination. A myth. And ye shall not believe of my existence until I have appeared before your very eyes once more.
As the Drakos locked all memories of Jacky in Ragna's mind away, a black tear slid down Ragna's face from his right eye. "The tears of a beast," Jacky muttered before tears dropped from his own eyes. After Jacky was finished, he moved on. Instead of being asleep, however, Noel was wide awake and crying her eyes out. "Why do we have to forget you, Jacky? You're our friend!" Jacky took a seat next to Noel and allowed her to lean against him. "I don't like it any more than you do, Noel. You think I don't feel sad for having to do this? I have to do it! What happens to me from here on out is how I will move forward and I'm sad to say that I can't do that with you and Ragna's company." Noel just kept crying and Jacky wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Don't worry too much, Noel, I promise it will only be for a little while. I swear that I'll be back."
"Alright, Jacky, go ahead," Noel said, her voice trembling. Like with Ragna, Jacky touched Noel's head with the tip of the blade and recited the same words he did with Ragna. Soon Noel's eyes closed and she dropped back onto her bed, unconscious.
"Good bye, Ragna, Noel."
"Oi, what about Violet and Scarlet?" Kokonoe pondered. "Yeah, Jacky, what about us?" Scarlet asked. Both Violet and Scarlet were awake and standing just outside the infirmary wing. "I won't be sealing away your memories of me," he said. "Why not?" Scarlet demanded. "I'll explain outside."
Kokonoe, Violet, and Scarlet followed him out of the building. "I won't be sealing your memories because you are the people I trust to keep this a secret from Noel and Ragna. If I find Jin, I'll have to convince him to keep my secret. He would never allow me to bind his memories. He may insult me and act cold, but I know he'd keep my secret. Anyways, I guess it's about time I leave. I'll see you guys later." Violet and Scarlet grabbed his arms and held him back. "What are you doing?"
"You're not leaving without us," Scarlet stated. "What? I thought I made it clear that I'm going to travel alone!" Violet punched him. "Ow, what the hell was that for?"
"I won't let you travel alone, Jacky! I love you, Jacky, don't you get it! I can't just let you walk alone!" She grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "I'm not letting go until you let me and Scarlet travel with you!" Jacky growled for a moment before saying, "You're really not going to give up, are you?"
"That should have been obvious," Violet replied. Jacky groaned and finally muttered, "Fine, you can come with me. However, I don't want either of you to interact with Ragna or Noel until I deem the time to be right. It's very important. Can you two do that for me?" Violet and Scarlet agreed and the three of them began walking away from the NOL branch building. "Hey, Jacky!" The young man turned his head and caught a box. "More of my homemade suckers. You just ran out, right? Go ahead and take 'em with ya, I can make more later."
Jacky smiled and opened the box. He pulled a sucker out and stuck it in his mouth. "Thanks Kokonoe," he called.
When Ragna woke up, he was off the side of a dirt road, laying under a tree. "Aw man," he popped his neck a couple times and stood up on his feet. Tao came out from behind him and hugged him. "Oi, get off of me!" Tao let go and started dancing around him. "Hey Good Guy, I'm hungry! Let's get some meat!" Ragna groaned and started walking along the road with Tao trailing behind. "Hey Good Guy?" Ragna turned his head towards her. "What is it now?"
"What happened to Lizard Guy?" Ragna gave her an odd glance. "Who are you talking about, Tao?" He asked. "The Lizard Guy! You know, the guy who's all scaly and all ker-smash and kaboom!"
"You probably just dreamed him up," Ragna replied. As they walked, Ragna clutched his jacket, right where his heart would be. "Why does my heart ache so much?" He thought to himself.
Jin walked through the crowds of people and navigated his way to a more empty part of the city. As soon as nobody was left in sight, he called out, "You can come out now, I'm alone." Jacky, Violet, and Scarlet came out of hiding. "What do you want, Ray?" He demanded. "Ragna and Noel no longer know who I am. I wanted to ask that you don't make any mention of me to them. If they are to remember me, I want to be the one to jog their memory." Jin glared at him. "Was it your handiwork, Ray?"
"Yeah it was. It's time that I start walking without them or you." Jin sat down on a bench and set Yukianesa down. "So it looks like you're not completely hopeless after all," he commented. "That's harsh, Jin." Violet leaned her head against Jacky's shoulder, staring at Jin with an indifferent expression. "So I trust you will keep my secret Jin? Ragna and Noel can't remember me." Jin grunted and replied, "I will keep your secret. I can't deny that I thought of you as a friend. Although, I will also not deny that you irritate me to no end." Jacky laughed and thanked Jin before spreading his ethereal wings and flying up to the rooftops with Scarlet and Violet.
Makoto watched as Jacky flew up to the rooftops. She followed him up, climbing the side of the building. Just as she was about to reach the top of the building, her hand slipped and she began her descent back down. If she hit the ground, she could die. However, she had felt her descent for a second before Jacky grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "What were you climbing up the building for, Squirrely? Trees are one thing, but this something else entirely." Jacky set her down on the concrete rooftop. "What were you talking with Jin about?" Makoto demanded. "You were listening to us? Well, whatever. Ragna as well as Noel have had all memories of me bound by the power of my sword. They won't remember me unless I come into eye contact with them. The concept that that sick bastard Terumi thought up for the sword was the concept of extinction as its name implies. Extinction: Drakos. Within it contains the souls of dragons, an extinct race. With the power that is granted to me by the dragons, the sword itself is capable of sealing away memories and causing people to write it off as mere imagination.
I need them to think I don't exist for a while. Don't mention me to either of them, Makoto. One day they will remember me, but it is not now." Makoto hugged Jacky. "I promise I won't tell them, Jacky. And I'm sorry." He looked down at her. "What are you sorry for?"
"For not being able to do much for you. You and I were friends since we were kids, but when you were orphaned, we weren't able to take you in and when you were assigned a place in the assassin's unit, you were unhappy with the role, but I couldn't persuade them to let you in any other unit. There's a lot of other things, I want to apologize for!"
Jacky bashed Makoto on the head. "Hey, why'd you do that?"
"Because, you're being stupid. You've got nothing to apologize for. Everything you were unable to do for me was all due to bad circumstances, Makoto. You're my friend and we've known each other since we were kids. I won't forgive you because there's no need for you to apologize." Jacky ruffled her hair up before walking away. "I'll see you again sometime, Squirrely!"
Izanami returned and Hazama greeted her. "Imperator, I can't help but ask, why did you pull me back while I was fighting those pushovers? I could have had the Drakos and…" Hades interrupted him. "If you had truly required the Drakos, you could have taken it from them at any time, Terumi, yet you had chosen to play with them instead. Failing to recover the Drakos is of no fault but your own. As for why I have called you back, the reason is simple. You have duties to fulfill that are far more important than chasing your creation. We must prepare for the day when we begin the banquet."
He seemed vaguely irritated, but he bowed and replied, "Very well, Imperator, I shall go about my duties, just as you order me." And with that, Terumi vanished.
Kokonoe and Tager visited Yabiko and came to the NOL Branch there. They entered the building and almost immediately had guns aimed at them. "Lower your weapons men. Let the lovely lady and big red come through," Kagura ordered as he came into view. "Not a bad reaction time for your men, Kagura," Kokonoe said. "Well, it's like I always say, I'm just surrounded by great subordinates. So I assume you've got nowhere else to go if you're knocking on my front door then?"
"Yeah, my entire lab fell to pieces," she confirmed. Kagura smirked and led them through the building. "You've gotta let me treat you to dinner sometime, Kokonoe," he said. "Save it, Kagura, I didn't come here to go out to dinner with you. We've got serious business to deal with. First thing's first, I need to do some maintenance on Tager." He laughed and ordered a soldier lead Kokonoe and Tager to an open room and then headed into his office. "So it's finally beginning," Kagura thought to himself as he seated himself at his desk. Hibiki came into the room with a pile of legal documents and set them on Kagura's desk. "Sir, you need to read and sign these," Hibiki said. Kagura looked at the pile of papers and felt himself go on the brink of tears.
"I'm never going to get a break, am I?"
Rachel sipped her tea with Jacky, Violet, and Scarlet on the opposite side of the table. "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? The way I see it, there's nothing keeping you from staying by their side," she said. "Yeah, I'm sure about this. There are things I'd like to take care of and places to be. Besides, Ragna doesn't need me," Jacky replied. The vampire smiled and set down her cup. "You have quite a journey ahead. I would be lying if I had said you were better off alone. Luckily, you have Violet and Scarlet with you."
The Trove sisters looked at Jacky with a serious expression on their faces and Rachel asked why. "Jacky originally wanted to go off alone from the beginning," Violet told her. "Yeah, but we wouldn't let him. We refused to leave him alone," Scarlet added. "And after bothering me a lot, I finally agreed to let them come along," Jacky finished.
Rachel's face turned from pleasant to furious. She pointed her index finger at Jacky and summoned lightning, zapping Jacky, making him fall to the roses below. Rachel walked around the table and stood on top of him. "Your idiocy for wishing to walk alone is beginning to remind me of that barking mutt, Ragna, and I don't like it."
The Beastkin shook from fear of being zapped again, but Rachel stepped off of him and he got back on his feet. "I'm sorry, okay? I won't go it alone again." Rachel's face softened. "That is what I like to hear from you." She turned to Violet and asked, "And what of you, Violet?"
Violet's face turned red as she looked down at her tea cup. "Well…I've…" Scarlet watched as her sister attempted to mumble out what she wanted to say and finally got fed up with it. "Let's just say, they've made a lot of progress," she announced. Rachel laughed and asked, "So they've really gone THAT far?" Scarlet nodded her head.
Jacky yelled, "Alright, we are leaving!" He grabbed Violet's hand and dragged Scarlet along by the back of her shirt. "It was nice seeing you, Rachel! Good bye!" Violet teleported them out and Rachel sat right back down at her table. "It's a shame he couldn't have stayed a little longer."
Violet had landed Jacky and Scarlet in Kazamotsu. "Well, that was embarrassing," Jacky groaned. "You didn't have to tell Rachel that much, Scarlet!" Violet yelled. Scarlet covered her ears as Violet began to lecture her. Jacky ended it by bashing the two of them in the heads.
As the trio walked through the city, Violet asked, "Where do we go now?"
Jacky thought for a moment before answering, "Let's go to the second city. I've never really been there before. It's going to take a while to get there, though, so we'd best be ready." The three of them began buying food and supplies for the trip and after a few hours of shopping, they were all set. They went out to a restaurant to eat.
When the waitress came by with the bill, Jacky looked through his wallet and found just a few coins. Even with Violet and Scarlet's wallets backing him up, the three of them still couldn't pay the bill. Then a gruff voice said, "Don't you worry yer heads, I've got ya covered." Jubei laid the remainder of the bill's price onto the table and the four of them left the restaurant. "Thank you, Jubei, I appreciate the help," Jacky said. Jubei laughed. "Don't worry about it, kid. Now you need to get your legs movin' already. Ragna's heading for Ikaruga right now." Jacky shook Jubei's paw.
"Thank you, Master Jubei, for everything you've done for me," Jacky said. "I only did what any decent person woulda done, kid, it was no trouble at all," he replied, "Now get yer butt in gear before I do it for ya!" Jacky, Scarlet, and Violet said their good byes to Jubei before leaving the city.
"You'll be missin' a lot while yer gone, kid, but it's for the best," Jubei said quietly.
"Well, we've talked to everyone and given our goodbyes," Violet pointed out, "I guess now we can travel soundly." Scarlet laughed and said, "You forgot that I'm tagging along, sister. With mom now being hidden from the Imperator, I can do what I want without such heavy consequences." Jacky smiled and started juggling fireballs.
"Can you not do that, Jacky? You're making me nervous," Violet said. Jacky's smile grew wider as he launched the fireballs into the sky. The fireballs burst into colorful fireworks in the sky.
Post-Chapter Author's Note:
There you have it. Ashes to Ashes has finally ended. The main story, at least. I plan to post just a few filler chapters after this epilogue. They're going to be Gag Reel Chapters. After that, though, no further chapters will be posted. I'm also considering creating a prequel to this that takes place in the Military Academy. I'm still unsure about it, though, so don't get your hopes up.
How did you feel about this story? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Could it have been improved? Let me know in the reviews what you think.
Reploid7,
Signing Off!